NEOPHRON, or EGYPTIAN VULTURE. 



NEOPHRON PERCNOPTERUS {Linn.). 



Vultur percnopterus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 123 (1760) ; Hewitson, 

 i. p. 5. 



Cathartes percnopterus, Naum. i. p. 170. 

 Neophron percnopterus, Macg. iii. p. 166 ; Yarr. ed. 4, i. 

 p. 6 ; Dresser, v. p. 391. 



Vautor d'Egypte, French; Aas-Vogel, Aas-Geier, German ; 

 AUmoche, Rejilero, Abanto, Quebruntahuesos, Grajo 

 bianco, Spanish. 



i 



This repulsive but most useful bird lias occurred at 

 least on two occasions in England : in the first instance 

 two were seen, and one of them shot, in Somersetshire 

 in October 1825 ; the second occurrence is recorded by 

 Doctor C. Bree in the 'Zoologist' for 1868 as having 

 taken place on the 28th of September of that year, near 

 Peldon in Essex ; all three birds seem to have been in 

 immature plumage. The Neophron is a summer visitor 

 to many parts of Southern Europe, and breeds occasion- 

 ally, to my personal knowledge, as far to the north as 

 the neighbourhood of Aix les Bains in Savoy. In 

 Spain, especially in Andalucia, this species is exceed- 

 ingly common. Colonel Irby, in his ' Ornithology of 



